Monte FFA brings home state champions

Above, l to r: Katelyn Gregory, Tiffany Heishmann, Courtney Petersen, Colleen Johnston and Abbi Nelson will compete at Nationals for Ag Comm after becoming State Champions at FFA State Convention on Tuesday, April 24.

Below: Back row, l to r: Advisor Rick Swenson and seniors Nathan Wheeler, Natalie Wheeler, Brynna Steele, Shena Bryan, Alexis Ferguson and Bridgette Moore and front row, l to r: Kendra Cranston, Breanna Johnson, Kaylin Hansen, Aly James, Carrie Graham and Kendra Doty gather after accepting their Iowa Degrees at FFA State Convention on April 24.

by Bridgette Moore

On Sunday, April 22, approximately 30 Montezuma FFA members left to go to the Iowa State FFA Convention, which was held at Iowa State University in Ames. Teams, parents and other members helped the competitors practice for countless hours for their event.  Three of four competing teams received State Champion titles.

The Conduct of Meetings team performed on Monday, April 23. In this competition, students go through the proper way to run an Official FFA Meeting. The team consists of a president, vice president, sentinel, treasurer, reporter, secretary and an advisor. They received a gold rating along with claiming the title of Iowa State Champions. 

The team consisted of Clara Johnston (president), Vincent Bushong (vice president), Steve Kopp (advisor), Brittany Bender (secretary), Alex Brenner (treasurer), Cheyenne Peters (reporter) and Mackenzie James (sentinel). The alternates were Kaylene Corbin, Mikey Lyons, Jack Little and Noah Sykes.

Business Management competed on Tuesday, April 24. Each member takes a test that has math problems that would show up in everyday business. This was the second group to take the State Champion title and gain a gold rating. 

The team was made up of AJ Long (first place individual), Tyler Swenson (second place individual), Camden Watson (third place individual) and Norman Martin (sixth place individual). They will be competing at the National FFA Convention in October, which will be held at the Indiana Convention Center in Indianapolis, Indiana. This year marks the 19^th straight year that the Montezuma FFA has taken the state champion title in this group.

Agriculture Communications also completed on Tuesday. In the competition, each member has a certain job: press release, radio broadcasting, proof reading and web design. They have to make a presentation that they present with information about their topic. This year the topic was “We Can Make a Difference” and was about the Montezuma Food Pantry. They received a gold rating and the title of Iowa State Champions. 

Katelyn Gregory  (first place individual, radio broadcaster), Abbi Nelson (second place individual, web designer), Courtney Peterson (fourth place individual, press release), Colleen Johnston (proof reading) and their alternate, Tiffany Heishman, were the members of this team. They will also be competing at Nationals in October.

Ag Market Plan competed on Tuesday as well. In this competition, the team comes up with a Market Plan for the business. This year’s market plan was about Hill Top Farms, which is run by Dick Swenson and Rick Swenson. The team talked about how to improve the swine semen production. Nathan Wheeler, Kendra Doty and Aly James are on the team. They will also be competing at Nationals.

Ag Sales competed on Tuesday. All teams were asked to sell a fertilizer called Preen. They are judged on how well they executed the sale and a test. The team consisted of Karah Hansen, Masiey Ranfield, Kaylee White and Julie Audas. The alternates were Danelle Kleitsch and Abby Wedgewood. They received 11^th place.

Seniors who completed their SAE (Supervised Agriculture Education) received their Iowa Degrees on Tuesday. Those seniors are Shena Bryan, Alexis Ferguson, Kendra Doty, Carrie Graham, Bridgette Moore, Breanna Jonhson, Natalie Wheeler, Kaylin Hansen, Brynna Steele, Nathan Wheeler and Aly James.

Congratulations to all the teams and recipients!